The Hangleton Quartet
by hourglass
Summary: Five adventureous Little Hangletons venture into the Riddle House, only to come face-to-face with the Dark Lord himself. You-Know-Who abandons the location because of the publicity of dead children, but his trail has been set. Enter Harry, and we're in
1. In Little Hangleton

_Title: **In Little Hangleton**_

_Author: hourglass_

_Summary:In Little Hangleton, a group of children wonder what's really so spooky about the Riddle House.They've been warned to stay away, but what do parents know?_

_Rating: PG for death_

_Time frame: Early summer (July 4th to be exact, although it's not America so there's no meaning in that day) following Harry, Hermione, and Ron's fourth year._

_Brief Authors' Note: Being American, I have no idea whether or not Little Hangleton is a real place, or, if it is, whether or not there is a family called Weiland, much less one with two kids named Lainey and Peter…_

_Translation: It's a fic. Implying "fiction".Only Lainey and Peter are mine.Also, please excuse me for the re-use of the word Marauder as a group of mischievous people.I couldn't think of anything else that went well!I tried, too… sat in front of the computer and thought, and thought, and thought, and gosh did it hurt. ~_^_

_PS: Happy Chanukah_

The Marauders were 12 this summer.They had long ago made a pact to be friends forever, but forever had seemed a lot longer back then.Staring into the abyss of death, it was more of a fleeting thought than a measure of infinity.

But maybe I should start from the beginning.

The very beginning, of course, is when the Marauders were first born.All five were born within the same month, June, in a small town called Little Hangleton.Four of the five Marauders had deep roots tied to the town.Lainey and Peter's great-great-great grandfather William Weiland was one of the founders of the town, along with Paul's great-great-great grandfather Fredrick O'Leary (Paul the Marauder was really named Fredrick Madison Paul St. Valentine O'Leary the sixth, and it never failed to bother him if you brought it up).Deirdre's family had lived there for nearly as long, moving in only one generation after the town's founding.Only Greg's family was new, his grandparents having moved there with his then young father, his mother coming from a nearby town.Yes, that was new in the small, close-knit town of Little Hangleton.

Maybe that's a little too far back of a beginning for you.Another starting place could be when the Marauders became the Marauders.They were only five years old at the time, and forever was just a way to show that they meant it when they said they would be friends.Lainey and Peter had, of course, known each other nearly forever.They were first cousins after all.Lainey and Deirdre had met in pre-school, and Paul's family lived just down the street from Peter.

Greg hadn't shown up until kindergarten, which is when the Marauders had become the Marauders.They had quickly become best friends, goofing off instead of working on the classroom assignments, sneaking off during naptime, and taking too many cookies during snack.But, are the early childhood details boring you?We could just move along, to the final beginning: the beginning of the end.

It started innocently enough- well, as innocent as the bunch ever got.They were only planning to sneak into the dilapidated Riddle House to tell ghost stories about the recently deceased gardener Frank.They never planned on mixing up in devious schemes of world domination and the murder of an unfortunate boy named Harry Potter.

But mix in it they did, however briefly.

It started innocently enough.They'd settled down, flashlights in hand, in the street just outside the Riddle House.Greg glanced at each in the near-darkness, and began his tale.

"Once upon a time, a while back… when our parents were babies and dinosaurs roamed the earth" the others giggled, "a family lived in this house.Their name was Riddle.There was a momma Riddle, a daddy Riddle, and a- oops, wrong story.There were two elderly Riddles in the house, and their grown-up son lived there too.Rumour has it that he married and then left his wife, although nobody knows why… but that's a different story.

"The Riddles lived happily, or however you lived back then, for a long time, until, suddenly, they died.No warning, no nothing.They just were eating dinner and then were found, later, still wearing their dinner things, still looking normal.Just… dead.Frank, the gardener, was quickly blamed, but was then let go because of lack of evidence.

"They said that the Riddles continued to haunt the old house, and Frank stayed around to guard the house so that the spirits wouldn't escape.Now that he's gone, they say he's trapped in the house with the others. 

"They say if you go into the foyer, turn in a circle five times counter-clockwise, all you have to do is say, "Spirits, I command you, show yourselves!Don't keep hidden by the pots and shelves!" the others laughed again."So I'm not good at poetry!I mean, _they_ aren't good at poetry.The people who make up these stories and tell them to me- I mean, _hear_ these stories and-"

"Come off it, Greg," Lainey interrupted.We know they're just the voices in your head.Let's just sneak into the house, okay?Then you can tell us the one about how Frank died."

All four other Marauders nodded, and the five headed inside.

They reached the door, which was locked shut.They stared at it for a while, and considered picking the lock (and breaking the door down, but they weren't really capable of that one).The Deirdre wandered around the side of the house and noticed an open second-story window.

The Marauders were only slightly discouraged at the second-story factor of the window.They all were experts at scaling the sides of brick houses after all the practice they'd given themselves.Peter was the first one to go up the side of the house.

His mother's words echoed in his head._I don't want to ever hear of you going anywhere near the Riddle House again, young man.Do you hear me?_He'd been younger back then, he told himself, and continued climbing.

He propped himself up on the windowsill, and gestured for Lainey to come up behind him.The other three followed directly behind her, and then all five piled into the mansion, one right after the other.Somewhere, deep within the old house, something beeped, breaking the eerie silence.All five sighed audibly. 

Deirdre shined the beam of her flashlight around the empty, rotting room they'd ended up in.She shined it past the doorway, then swung it back quickly.

There, in the doorway, was a horrific sight.The shape of a man, part human, mostly not.Even his shadow, outlined with the flashlight, was enough to frighten the Marauders, with all their twelve years, to the point of absolute fear.

And then he spoke.

"My, my, my," he said."And what have we here?Death Eaters, hold them!"

Lainey, Peter, and Paul's mouths all dropped open.

"You're- you're- you're You-Know-Who!" Paul finally choked out.By then, all five were being restrained by the Death Eaters.

"He's… what?" Greg asked.

"My name, Muggle," the Dark Lord said, "is Lord Voldemort."

Paul, Lainey, and Peter quaked with fear at hearing the monstrosity say his own name.

And then they thought back, and knew this was the end.

_They say your life flashes before you when you die.Well, I don't need mine to.I'm here in my last moments with my best friends. I don't need to have one last glimpse to remember the good times.Wherever we go when we die, the Marauders will stay together.Forever, just like we swore we would.Maybe, in spite of facing the Dark Lord, I'll go with a smile on my face._

"Avada Kedavra."

**_************_**

_~hg~_


	2. Still in Little Hangleton

_Time frame: Early summer following Harry, Hermione, and Ron's fourth year.___

_Disclaimer: It's not mine unless it's not hers… ~points to JK Rowling~… or something like that.___

_Brief Author's Note: In the disclaimer for "In Little Hangleton," I only claimed Peter and Lainey as mine. That's because… well… I'm dumb. But Paul, Deirdre, and Greg are mine too! Heheh._

**Day One**

The Little Hangleton Marauders' tale has ended. They are dead, and nothing can bring them back. There is no surprise catch in this part of the story. Remember that as the chronicle continues.

But, while they might be dead, the story is far from over.

The story did not make the front page of the Daily Prophet or the Little Hangleton Herald the day after the Marauders were killed. As a matter of fact, other than the Marauders themselves- who, if you remember, are dead without hope of coming back to life-; the Dark Lord; and some of his Death Eaters; no-one at all knows that the Marauders are anything short of alive, as of the morning after their death.

The first to notice something was wrong were Greg's parents. They noticed he wasn't home yet, and immediately called the other Marauders' parents.

Sure enough (you were expecting a miracle? I told you, they're dead!), none of the others were home either. Their parents all convened at the coffee shop in the centre of town, deciding what to do next.

"They haven't been missing 48 hours yet, the police won't do anything," one father said.

"There's five of them," a mother replied, "it must mean something!"

"Probably that we'll have to wait even longer," someone finished. "All we can do is wait."

And waiting was, after a while, what they ended up doing. Although not for long, in the case of Lainey, Peter, and Paul's parents. They had something that Deirdre and Greg's parents did not.

Magic.

We will follow one family's exploits to find their missing children, as all three families, although with different methods, managed to arrive in the same place.

The family we will follow is Peter's family, the Weilands. Peter, of course, is the easiest because his parents' search was the quickest.

The Weilands have had ins on Ministry dealings for years, since a close friend of Mr. Weilands had been appointed first assistant to the Minister. They had never specifically taken advantage of this all on their own before, but now, the Weilands thought, was a better time than any other.

They quickly got in touch with their friend, and had him cast a tracking spell through the Ministry's magical tracking equipment, which was guaranteed to find anyone much quicker than a normal tracking spell, which could take several days of winding the wrong way here and there before finally taking you just down the street from where you started.

Which made them find out the bad news far too quickly.

"Good news and bad news," the Weilands' ministry friend said as he stuck his head through the floo-powder fire.

"You've found him?" Mrs. Weiland exclaimed.

"Well, yes ma'am. He's even still in Little Hangleton." Peter's family smiled. "I'm afraid, though…"

"Yes?" Mr. Weiland asked worriedly.

"He's dead."

_Unnecessarily long Authors' endnote:___

_BlossomLI (Alli): The continuation of this story is dedicated to you, because I actually wasn't going anywhere with "In Little Hangleton" originally. Krystyn Poe: I hope this part has sufficiently explained why Paul called him "You-Know-Who". If not, the next part will. Sorry that wasn't clear in the original. Cloudzi: Thanks for all the synonyms. None of them have quite the same ring as Marauder, though, and in any case it's too late now. Oops…___

_All the other reviewers: THANK YOU!!!!! ~hugs you all~_   
_Also, I'm sorry for using the name "Peter". I don't like Wormtail either. I wrote the first draft of "In Little Hangleton" before Goblet of Fire came out, and just never thought to change it. The next part should be up tomorrow (although, if it's not it'll be a while, since school starts back up Tuesday), it's almost done.___

_Happy New Year!___

_~hg~_


End file.
